most expensive cables

dorokusai

Yea, that's what I meant :rolleyes:

Please disregard any previous comments....sheesh, I knew there was a reason I posted less.

BjornB17

madmax wrote:

I hope no one thinks I'm up'ity here but I just have to throw this out. If you are not hearing differences with any component change, including sources, amps, wires or interconnects, something is terribly wrong. :eek:
madmax

Yes you are up'ity. Someone pass him the pipe.

heiney9

madmax wrote:

I hope no one thinks I'm up'ity here but I just have to throw this out. If you are not hearing differences with any component change, including sources, amps, wires or interconnects, something is terribly wrong. :eek:
madmax

Yes...Yes...Yes. I have a good friend who is not into audio at all. He has a 5.1 setup with a Denon 3805. He uses Cerwin Vega's all around and a very cheap center speak. I persuaded him to buy a Polk PSW-650 which he is very impressed with. But, I will say that any gear changed outside of the rec. will not be noticed on his system. Forget swapping cables or source components as there isn't enough resolution with his current set-up to notice any difference. Hell, he doesn't even have the system calibrated correctly and the speakers are in the worst possible position. It's really a lost cause. But he''s very happy with it. Why?

Because those that don't know...don't know they don't know. So yes there is something terribly wrong with his approach it's called apathy. But conversely he doesn't go around saying things like cables, source, speaks, amps don't make a difference. It doesn't matter to him, he has what he likes...he likes what he has.

H9

rocketman

I used the player for about three weeks.I used a BAT vk3 preamp,MacIntosh Mc2500 amp first then a Mc 275 IV bought new just after the player.The speakers were Polk sda-srs2's with silk tweeters.
The JD 100 was supposed to have Black Gate Caps,soft recovery diodes,sound dampening,a Trichord Research Never Connected Power Supply,Trichord Research Clock upgrade,Electro-Harminex 12ax7 Eh tubes in the output stage.
With the top off as the disk was spinning you could see it wobbling so bad that I was amazed it could even track it.One guy on Agone had read my inquirys about the player before I bought the player.When I had posted that I had finally got the player he emailed and ask me if my transport was "noisy"?I told him no but the disk wobbles alot when it spins.He wrote back and said his new player was making a scraping or rubbing sound.Maybe I got a ringer.The Pioneer was much better built inside with alot more features.Imho the Jolida I got was not worth 1100.00

F1nut

That is a decent list of gear...hmmmmm. What cables did you use?

Not sure what you mean by better built inside, the Jolida quality looks pretty good to me for the money. I mean it weighs in at 22lbs, has solid walls separating the power supply, transport and output stage and uses a proven transport. As for features, what more do you need than open/close, play, stop and pause? Maybe you're right, you got a lemon, it happens.

F1nut

One other thing, changing the stock power for a good after market one made a huge difference on mine. More so than any other piece of gear I've owned. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a decent player for the money, but it isn't close to my reference unit at 6.5 times the price, nor should it be.

rocketman

I use carnare cable from MarkerTek.The Pioneer had single or six disk capability with two different magazines,many different program features and had many more componets inside.It also is is alot more solid.The Jolida had three little boards plus the one under the transport.the transport tray was very noisy when it opened and closed.I opened up the Pionner the other week and even the grease was good A couple of belts looked a little slack but it all works fine.The difference in the contents might be that they can make things smaller now I don't know.It looked to me like the inside of MacIntoshes new music server The MS 300.No way I would pay $5,000.00 for that thing.It has if I remember right two board,a maxtor hard disk,and an Escient Fire Ball,and about three dacs.There is just not much in there to charge that kind of price.People at the audiokarma mac site have brought up the fact that Escient is under the same coprate umbrella as mac along with denon,Harmon and a few others.The Escient server sells for 3,000.00 and is basicly the exact same thing in a different box.The Jolida is made in China and drop shipped to dealers.I have picts of the inside of the jolida some place and will try to post.Thanks for your thoughts.

F1nut

I would think you'd want to try better cables with the level of gear you're running. IMO, they are the limiting factor as MM suggested.

Anyway, the Jolida didn't seem to be your cup of tea, but I can assure you it's miles beyond anything that Pioneer ever made. CDP's are one area of audio that have made vast improvements in recent years, even the entry level players have better DAC's than the TOTL players of even 5 years ago.

No need for pics, I've been inside mine.

heiney9

Wow.... That's some nice gear. I guess I'm just as confused as you are. The Jolida *should have* sounded noticeably better than the Pioneer at the least because of newer technology and much better build and associated components. All I can say is don't give up. A newer cdp will really raise the sonic level of your rig. Something certainly doesn't sound right. Perhaps as F1 mentioned you got a lemon or even possibly a counterfeit unit.

You should really consider upgrading your cables, but even with your current cables you should have noticed an appreciable difference. Keep us posted.

Good luck

H9

Flash21

For some components newer isn't necessarily better. Amps and speakers come to mind. But a new CD player should sound better than one that old. I still have a Magnavox CDB-650 from the mid 1980s. It cost $350 even then, and was widely regarded as the best sounding CD player when it was introduced. But the science of digital playback has come a long way since then, and the Jolida or any other decent CD player should sound noticeably better than an old Pioneer ever did. I have A/B compared the Magnavox against my current Denon (which itself isn't that new anymore) and the Denon won handily.

[EDIT]By coincidence, I ran across this response to a reader question at the Goodsound website:

...if your source player is nine years old, I would think you could make some dramatic improvements in that area. Digital has improved in the last decade, so for very little money you might be able to find a significant upgrade that could come before speakers.

To sum up: With speakers, more than any other component, you must listen to make a sure-fire buying decision. Replacing nine-year-old digital, on the other hand, might be a no-brainer.

ohskigod

just throwin it out there...My Jolida needed a rediculously long time to break in. It sounded like #ss out of the box for some reason. I changed the tubes, a little better, but not much. I just left the thing on repeat for days on end, non stop. went back, and all was good. A/B'd it with an Onk and a Tosh 3960 and the Jolida was far better after the break in. cant say enough how wierd and drastic of an example of break in it was for me.